Bones are just part of your body, invisible under your skin, supporting you and enabling you to stand and walk and lift things. Your joints connect bones and enable movement. But sometimes bones and joints get your attention by hurting or otherwise developing problems, which can include arthritis; osteoporosis; foot problems; pain in the back, neck, hip, knee, shoulder, or jaw; scoliosis and kyphosis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and bone pain. Let’s take a look at these.
Arthritis
Arthritis is inflammation of the joints, causing pain and reduction in mobility, and sometimes swelling and deformity. It can affect all joints of the body, or only certain joints that receive more use than others. There are two kinds of arthritis, osteoarthritis, which is caused by stress on the joints due to weight or use, and rheumatoid arthritis, which is an autoimmune disease that mostly affects the hands. Gout is a form of arthritis, and most often affects the joint of the big toe.
Causes of arthritis include chemicals and metals, dietary causes including food sensitivities, microorganisms, and structural misalignments that can benefit from chiropractic adjustment.
Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis literally means porous bone, a loss of bone mass. Bones become less dense and more brittle with age and progression of the disease, and can break easily, especially the hip. It can also affect the jaw, causing tooth loss over time, and can cause a loss of height over decades. Causes include a family history of osteoporosis, alcohol use and smoking, sugar, caffeine, and phosphoric acid. These last three are found in most sodas, making habitual soda drinking a major risk factor.
Back and neck pain
Back pain is one of the most frequent reasons for doctor visits as well as being a major cause of disability. Reasons for back pain include injury such as whiplash, toxicity that can cause meningeal contraction, arthritis, spinal disk collapse, poor posture, and structural misalignments. Since nerves go from the spinal cord to the organs, a two-way street, problems with certain organs can cause pain that is felt in the back. Misalignments of the neck can cause neck pain and stiffness, an inability to move the neck in certain directions.
Hip, knee, and shoulder pain
Knee problems can be from having your head in front of your body; your knees are trying to help you keep your balance, and this is a strain on them. Another cause of knee pain is overweight, since the knees have to support more weight than they’re designed for. High impact aerobic exercises and high-heeled, narrow-toed shoes can also cause knee pain.
Hip pain can be due to sciatica, which is a sharp pain in the hip and buttock area, usually on one side. Sciatica is usually due to a subluxation in the lower back; chiropractic adjustment of this area often helps although it may take several treatments. The cause of sciatica in men can be as simple as sitting all day with a wallet in the back pocket; the cure can be as simple as removing it.
Many shoulder problems and injuries come about because we routinely don’t use the shoulder’s full range of motion. A rolled-forward shoulder is a predisposing condition that renders the shoulder susceptible to injury. If the head is too far in front, upper shoulder/trapezius pain can result.
Scoliosis, kyphosis, and lordosis
Scoliosis is curvature of the spine to the side, while kyphosis is forward-and-back convex curvature, which can eventually cause a hump in the mid or upper back. Lordosis is a concave curvature of the spine; the normal forward curvature at the waist is exaggerated and can cause back pain and a protruding abdomen. These can be caused by long-term bad posture and slouching, genetic factors and spine weaknesses, and structural misalignments. In mild cases, chiropractic adjustment can correct the problem or prevent it from developing in the first place.
Jaw pain
Pain in the jaw can be due to a number of factors, including TMJD, which is inflammation of the joint between the upper and lower jaws. Other causes of jaw pain are dental infections and heart problems.
Bone pain
Pain that seems to be in the bone itself can be a symptom of insufficient calcium. The body takes calcium from the bones to try to remedy the deficiency. Although taking supplemental calcium can help, it is best to find out what, usually inflammation, is causing the deficiency in the first place.
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Carpal tunnel syndrome is pain in the wrist, usually from repetitive stress. The problem is sometimes not even in the wrist, but is from misaligned hips.
Foot problems
Although not all foot problems involve the bones and joints (for example, athlete’s foot and calluses), most such problems do. Bone and joint related foot problems include:
- Gout, a form of arthritis, is discussed above.
- Shoes with pointy toes force the front big toes towards the others; the joint at the base of the big toe is forced outward and swells, and a bunion can result.
- With hammertoes, the upper parts of the toes are pulled back towards the foot and the toes are bent downwards in order to provide balance, work that should be performed by the arches, ankles, legs, knees and hips.
- The arches of the feet support the body’s weight and help with walking and reacting properly to the terrain, and flat feet can interfere with this. Flat feet are often caused by misalignment of the hips, or rigid shoes, especially for a baby; after a while, the foot muscles atrophy and can no longer maintain an arch. Flat feet can cause pain and hamper the ability to walk or run long distances.
- Intense pain on the heel upon stepping out of bed in the morning is a sign of a heel spur.
- Shoes with ankle support can help prevent ankle injury while the shoe is being worn, but the ankle becomes weaker because its muscles are not called upon to work normally, and the ankle then becomes more prone to injury in non-supported shoes.
What to do
If you are experiencing bone and joint problems, pain, stiffness, or weakness, come in to CAM and get evaluated and, if necessary, get a chiropractic or osteopathic adjustment. The next article discusses how to treat and prevent bone and joint problems.
